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from the krn kcn"cnn live today" krn center, this is "cnn saturday morning." i'm brianna keilar in for randi kaye. december flation florida. searchers there are battling time and gravity in their attempt to recover a man swa swallowed up by a sinkhole. we'll take you live to the scene. seeing it believing. students fed up with a crook on campus. after weevgs weeks of warn threats, americans face $85 billion in federal spending cuts. president obama siren aobama si order. what happens now?

political correspondent jim acosta is live at the white house. what happens now? >> reporter: a good question. we'll find out at the same time. the president said in his press conference yesterday that this will not be what he called and apocalypse, but if you look at what the office of management and budget in his own administration is telling congress about these cuts, this will be serious. this is the order that the president issued last night initiating automatic across-the-board budget cuts. look at the letter from omb to congress, it says right here, the cuts required by sequestration will be deeply destructive to national security, domestic investments and core government functions. talking billions of dollars in cuts over at the defense department, cuts near $1 billion for fema, for disaster relief. cuts to transportation security for those check-in lines at the airport. the lines may get longer according to the administration. that's why the president in this weekly address to congress said even though the cuts are set in

motion he woe like to work out a deal to perhaps turn back the clock and do away with these cuts. what he had to say -- >> these cuts are not smart. they'll hurt our economy and cost us jobs. and congress can turn them off at any time as soon as both sides are willing to compromise. >> reporter: now, so far the republicans haven't really responded to that kind of talk very favorably at this point. they believe that the president is really just after more tax increases and they're saying that that's not going to happen at this point, but brianna, of course, here in washington folks are always trying to find some of the lighter moments in these dark and gloomy budget times, and you will recall yesterday when the president talked about putting a jedi mind meld on congress he wasn't able toll do that, twitter exploded saying, uh-huh. he's mixing movie references between "star trek" and "star wars" and mixing the jedi mind trick with the vulcan mind meld, if you will, and so the white

house put out a tweet yesterday trying to have fun with this. we can put it up on-screen where they have a graphic they put theeg says these cuts aren't the solutions that americans are looking for. so they're trying to have fun with it. of course, the reactions to this were swift. they were at warp speed or light speed, depending if you're a trekkie or "star wars" fan. >> you saw leonard nimoy, only a vulcan mind meld will help this congress. jim can we really disagree with him? >> we really can't. i love, the end you see, he ended it buy llap. >> what does that mean? >> live long and prosper. >> of course. of course. live long and prosper. we'll be bog that for a while, even if nos prospering as we get through this debate. jim acosta at the white house. thank you. the budget ax won't leave anyone unscathed. when will you goin see the cuts? where will you see them?

tom foreman is live in washington to break it all down. hi, tom. >> reporter: bring in a little more down to earth at this part. march comes in like a lion out like a lamb in terms of weather. in terms of the cuts, coming in like a lamb but could go out like a lion. the forced budget cuts went into effect, what did you feel? the truth is, nothing, by and large pap few people saw little things. by and large most people didn't see anything. that's going to be that way for a little bit of time here because essentially what's happening is the news. the official action that puts all of this in place is happening through these weeks. when you may yet see nothing going on but believe me, a little fire started she eed her starting to grow. the end of the month, talking about real potential impacts here. for example, as you hit the end, all the notice the sent out will kick in. the end of the month you'll see

some kind of closures at national parks. see the lines at airports. i say this guardedly, because it's not entirely clear how much you're going to see. maybe at the busiest airports at the busiest times longer waits. maybe at a lot of airports a lot of waits. we'll see how that shakes out in terms how the markets reacts. nonetheless, start feeling fegts by then. now in the business of watching the funding for the boudget expire, and this whole budget going on around it complicating things further. also it opens a door in which a deal could be struck that would get around the sequester without make directly addressing it. nonetheless a very, very busy month here in march, bri, during which it will come in like a lamb and go out like a lion. at least a little lion. >> so used to seeing last-minute solutions. the thing about that potential government shutdown at the end of march, even if they do it, it

costs money to prep in case they don't come to a deal. taxpayers take the hit there. what are we seeing beyond march. what happens in april and may? do we see the effects grow? >> we do see the effects grow, and it depends on what they do here. one of the biggest affects you're going to see, weirdly enough, actually a politicaleffect. budget negotiations will have to go on in this environment. now, whatever point of view you have politically, that may be good or bad. if you want a lot of pressure on one side or the other, trust me. by april, you'll have a lot of pressure, whichever side you want it to go. again, we'll have to see how it plays out. all of the effects in the last months will continue through these moss and probably grow, because so many of the many pras have a lag effect. you put them in and they slowly go away. kind of like not buying groceries for your kitchen. you can do it for one week, two weeks, three weeks. at some point a cumulative

effect you realize you're out of things. that will continue out of that month and into the next month and into may, other things going on. when we'll actually see smaller unemployment checks may see in in april. maybe some some places right away. in may, if nufull force and mor as the year goes on. >> when things start to cook in washington. thanks, tom. near tampa, florida, rescuers resumed their search for the body of a man who was swallowed by a sinkhole, and cnn's john zarrella is live there in florida. john, they actually called off the search last night fought jeff bush and began again around 7:00 this morning. are they any closer to recovering his body? >> reporter: no. they aren't. you know, quite frankly, it is an effort now to just try to find out the parameters, the dimensions of this sinkhole to see how wide it goes. they know it's at least 25, 30 feet deep, and continuing to deepen. they know that the initial

sinkhole itself is about 30 feet wide. about 30 feet wide. but that around that, it's very sandy and it is very steep. and because of that, they believe that it has the potential to continue to expand. before they even go inside that house, and no one's been in that house since thursday night when the collapse occurred and when the family was pulled out of there, they have been continuing to do ground testing, ground radar systems, that they're using to try and figure out how widespread this sinkhole could become. >> are they concerned about these other homes near the sinkhole? now you're across the street, well across the street. >> reporter: right. >> is it possible that the sinkhole could even come across the street or into these other properties? >> reporter: women, yeah. certainly is possible, and, in fact, they moved us back a ways today to bring ground testing equipment over to this side of the street later to do testing over here just so they can be sure that they have a handle on

exactly how wide the potential could be for it. yeah, yesterday they evacuated the houses on either side of the blue house behind me where the sinkhole occurrd and family members from one of those house was seen coming out carrying belongings. presumably helped we understand by the red cross, and by others in the community. so they are concerned about that. >> and definitely a tough time for the family as we saw that video right there of jeff bush's brother. john zarrella in florida, thanks for that report. >> sure. the death of a russian boy adopted by an american couple is being called an accident. russian foreign officials accused the boy's parents of abusing max. the 3-year-old's death of his american home in texas expressed outrage in russia. the boy died of a torn artery in his stomach and the brudsi inbr the boy was actually self-inflicted.

hugo chavez is said to be fighting for his life as he takes to twitter accusing the government of lying about his condition. aside from photos, chavez has not been seen or heard from since the october elections. meantime, his supporters held a mass in the chapel of the venezuelan military hospital where chavez is said to be receiving cancer treatment. jodi arias sobbed as she was shown pictures of her ex-boyfriend naked and bloody body. the pick k4tures she took just s before his death. to provide companies with services... like helping hr departments manage benefits and pensions for over 11 million employees. reducing document costs by up to 30%... and processing $421 billion dollars in accounts payables each year. helping thousands of companies simplify how work gets done. how's that for an encore? with xerox, you're ready for real business.

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for dies jodi arias grillaled by the prosecution, sobbed, confessed to lies and spilled the detailses of graphic sexual acts. now it's her turn to prove that she killed her ex-boyfriend, travis alexander, in self-defense. a warning. some pick k4etures in this stor rather graphic. randi kaye has the story. >> reporter: tears from jodi arias who broke down on the stand as the first photo of travis alexander's body was displayed in court showing him twisted and crumpbled on the shower floor. >> ma'am, were you crying when

you were shooting him? >> i don't remember. >> were you crying when you were stabbing him? >> i don't remember. >> how about when you cut his throat? were you crying then? >> i don't know. >> with her face in her hands, the prosecutor dared her to look. >> take a look, then, and you're the want that did this. right? >> yes. >> and you're the same individual that lied about all of this. right? >> yes. >> so then take a look at it. >> reporter: from the stand, arias did her best to convince the jury she acted in self-defense. she says alexander attacked her after she dropped his camera. >> he body slammed me. >> he body slammed you down. >> yes. >> in a very -- where did he body slam you down, ma'am? >> right in the same area, on the tile. >> reporter: even if it was self-defense, how did had lead

to this? nearly 30 stab wounds, his throat cut and a single gun shot to the head and prosecutors specifically retraced steps leading up to that point starting with the most she says she shot him. >> he just was running at me as i turned around. >> reporter: arias alleged alexander charged her like a linebacker. >> show me the linebacker pose. >> he got down -- >> well, shope. show me the linebacker pose. that's what i'm asking you to do. >> he went like that, turned his head. >> reporter: what's when she says the gun went off. >> i screamed stop when i pointed the gun at him. >> and then what do you do? >> i don't really remember. i just remember -- i don't remember anything at that point sigh would be speculating. >> reporter: later the prosecutor displayed several gruesome photos from the crime scene. >> and according to your version of events, you would acknowledge that that stabbing was after the shooting. according to you. right?

>> i don't -- yes. i don't remember. >> i'm not asking if you remember, ma'am. i'm asking, if you acknowledge it would be you that did it. ject correct? >> yes. >> reporter: no moatter what sh syd on the stand the state in the buying her story pr here's rye. they believe xander alexander was killed in the shue. that she lured him to the shower hours after they had sex i. asked him if i could do pictures of him in the shower he's like, no. i was like i just have an idea. i have a couple of ideas. i saw this thing in a calvin klein ad that looked really good. he was, you're right. he wasn't very comfortable at first. he was standing there, i feel gay. >> reporter: air yos staped naked photos including this one shown in court.

investigators sayre it's time stamped 5:30 p.m. just two minutes before arias stabbed him in the heart. >> you were the person that was directing him on where to be at how to sit? right? >> yes. >> reporter: directoring him, perhaps, too h his own death. >> we were talking about travis alexander. do you remember that? >> yes, i remember that. >> that's why rear here, because you killed him, right? >> yes. >> reporter: randi kaye, cnn, phoenix, arizona. was jodi arias a domestic abuse victim or cold bsh blooded killer from? disturbing phone conversations the riveting courtroom drama pulls back the curtains on the murder of travis alexander. watch "sex, lies ams am& amp

audiotape" tonight at ni9:00 p..

come into work or quit. that's the new edict from yahoo! ceo marisa meyer, his decision sparked outrages in homes of workers around the country. here's part of the leaked mem open. "to become the absolute best place to work communication kand clabber ace willing important so we need to be working side by side nap is why it is critical we are all present in our offices." this discussion is about much more than telecommunity -- telecommuting, ice shou should . the william fact of women in the workplace and whether they can have it all.

the president of the association for females executives and jessica heron, kre lo and founder of jewelry company stella and dot. betty, start with you. what did you think when you first heard about this memo and do you think yahoo! made the rice decision here? >> when i first heard about the memo i asked, is this a hoax? it didn't seem possible that someone could be going backwards. most companies today are offering some kind of flexibility for people to work from home and it's working successfully. as i thought about it i was realizing that the ceo, marisa mayer, made a choice. chosen innovation over people. ploebl going to get her innovation, but at what cost? she's going to lose a lot of people. you just don't have the to lose people when you are innovating. you figure out a way to get them in, also have the time they need to take care of the things they have to in their personal lives. >> jessica, let me ask you this. you began your now multimillionful dollar company

out of your living room the motto women working from home. is that just as productive as the face time you might have in the office? do you think this is sort of, maybe, wrong that she's pursuing this route? >> well, i began stella and dot as a flexible opportunity for women because i recognized that corporate america and traditional companies have constraints that just aren't going to be fixed in that environment. there needing to be an alternative. i recognize that marisa had to do something bold. that's because there's been a string of ceos at yahoo! trying to turn it around and it's not working. so she had a, we've got to turn this ship all hands on deck, ultimately, i think that she's also going to realize that, of course, you've got to give people flexibility to be happy. happy employees will be best and can still be innovativinnovativ. just a matter of shades of gray and working that out as she gets the company back on track. >> you think it will backfire, maybe? >> well, i think that in the

short term she's going to weed out a lot of people and going to lose good ones, and she's going to lose some of the people that aren't necessarily committed to being there and maybe that's a time for that to happen, but i can't imagine that long term yahoo!'s not going to have flexible time. it's at google and working for them. it's a matter of time and place for the company. >> it's working out -- >> betty is this something that affects women more than men because they take advantage of this when they have children and are trying to juggle priorities? >> it's going to hit women heavily especially working mothers. working mother magazine, 100 best companys for working mothers, our top companies for executive women list shows that successful companies can use flex time and use it well. you have to monitor it. and make sure your managers are trained in how to work with flexible employee, and that may have slacked off in the last five years. >> so betty --

>> a really good point. >> go on. >> i believe -- i think it's really up to management to rise to the occasion. because you can have innovation even when people aren't changing their desks. it just means management has to facilitate that making sure people do come in sometimes and that may be for brainstorms, for innovation and making sure people have time to be together to get that good, spontaneous idea, but that doesn't happen at 7:00 a.m. on a monday morning or 6:00 p.m. when it should be dinner time. >> sure. >> i also do think this impacts men as well, because if women are ever going to have opportunity, true equal opportunity in the workplace, it means that men need to play an equal parenting role at home. so non-flexible work policies is bad for men and women. >> and you mentioned being chained to the desk. certainly we're all chained to our devices as well, but betty i think the big question is here is, is this just going to be yahoo! or something that may start a trend among other

companies? what is your expectation? >> men and women alike want these policies. 78% of workers say they need some kind of flexibility and we're finding that companies like cisco and intel and ibm and texas instruments all tech companies, all relying on innovation are using flex time really well. peel be connected 24/7 now by all sorts of devices, and so will marisa turn it around? i wouldn't be surprised if she does, after she's got the company back on its feet. i wouldn't be surprised if she gets the company back on its feet. she's very good. >> betty spence, national association for female executives and the jewelry company, stella and dot, a jewelry company many of us know so well. thank you. in the beginning of forced spending cuts. you may not feel it yet. ali velshi is here to tell you when you will and the defense department is bracing for massive cuts, too. max and penny kept our bookstore

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presidents calling on congress to cut the federal deficit. the message today in his radio address hours after he signed an order halting $85 billion in federal funding, the cuts will affect everything from education to food safety and national parks. now, there's no shortage of speculation on how the impasse will affect the countries and joining us to separate fact from fiction is our chief business correspondent ali velshi. so ali what are some of the myths you're hearing? sounds like there's a lot. >> good morning, my friend. at cnn money gathering a lot of myths through social media and questions people have and our expert jeanne sahadi. anything want to know about sequester, she's got a ph.d. in it. gathered sort of the four biggest ones. hit those. one, the world is very different today than yesterday. two, that president obama is to blame for the sequester. three that it is not hard to cut $85 billion out of the budget and number four, that the cuts

will hurt really badly or they won't matter at yall. the first is obvious. this is not y2k or fiscal cliff taxes different today than yesterday. this is going to be gradual. over seven months, $1.2 trillion over ten years. even those people laid off are not going to get laid off or furloughed for at least one month. you may feel this agency more in april and start to feel it gradually. no, today doesn't feel differently than yesterday. >> what about the myth it's not different to cut $85 billion? i can go line by line and this, this, that, but it's the politics? >> the tiny portion of the budget. it's applied all over the place. look, even nikki haley, the governor of south carolina said my kids could figure how to cut $85 billion. that's not the issue. you could actually cut more out of the budget if you wanted to. the issue, how sequestering was done, how the forced cuts were

done to be across the board, discriminate saving congress from voting. supposed to be so distasteful they wouldn't has. what happened, an escape hatch. cuts are happening in defense and across the agencies and no one has to take blame for them. they'll be more damaging than as i like to say, used a scalpel versus a sledgehammer. i didn't do anything. the president came up with it. congress agreed, now that's hatching. >> ali velshi, always interesting. thank you for separating the fact from the fiction for us. >> my pleasure. now today at 1:00 p.m., join ali and christine romans for a special live ed igs of "your money" as they break down the impact of these forced spending cuts. america's military readiness is taking a hit due to the cuts. the defense department is having to trim 9% of its budget and cnn chris lawrence has more on those cuts and their possibly repercussions. >> reporter: wars have been planned inside the tank.

this secure room in the pentagon, few get to see. >> mr. secretary, welcome to the tank. >> reporter: in our it's where military officials are making plans to cut $46 billion from their budget. >> effective immediately, air force flying hours will be cut back. >> if you stop training for a while and you're a combat pilot, then you lose your rating. and eventually can't fly at all. >> reporter: here's what's already happened. the pentagon warned its 800,000 civilian workers to expect furloughs and instituted a liaring freeze. curtailed it building maintenance. the maef postponed the "uss harry truman's" deployment in the persian gulf and delayed overhaul of the "uss lincoln." what happens next. the pentagon will cancel maintenance on 25 ships and nearly 500 aircraft. the army will cut training time for most soldiers. down the road it could lead to a

delay in deploying troops to afghanistan. >> we'll have to make a decision somewhere along the line to either extend those already there or send people there that are not ready. >> reporter: and famililesses have to wait longer for veterans funerals at arlington. furloughs will mean fewer people to schedule services and dig graves. >> that was chris lawrence reporting. what if the only job you could find didn't pay your bills? we'll look at why so many americans are finding themselves out of luck when it comes to finding a job that matches their expect aces and their needs. oh whoa. hello? yes. i didn't realize i'd be talking to an actual person. you don't need to press "0," i'm here. reach a person, not a prompt whenever you call chase sapphire. why should saturday night have all the fun? get two times the points on dining in restaurants,

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lots of college graduates can't find work that matches their level of education. other skilled employs lost high-paying jobs and forced to find work paying much less. tom foreman shows how under employment is making our american journey much harder. >> reporter: every day on the busy streets of new york, this man is hunting and he received his college degree last year he moved here from the west coast and thought finding a job in marketing was the next logical step. >> not necessarily that it would be an easy task but it wouldn't be something that almost eight months out of, since graduating i'm still struggling with. >> reporter: he's not alone. >> our economy is adding jobs but too many people can't find full-time enploemt. >> reporter: when president obama took office, 130 million americans wr working in non-farm jobs and a slow rivry, only 1.2 million jobs better off and many pay less than those that were lost.

a recent study by the center for college affordability found almost half of college graduates are now in jobs that do not require four-year degrees, things like janitorial services, taxi driving and rye tail sales. this prompt at ohio university helped author that study. >> let's say each one of them were making $20,000 a year more in income, which is quite plausible, we're talking about $400 billion a year in lost wages. >> reporter: numbers like that have madeship economic analysts argue underemployment may be every bit as damaging to the economy as unemployment. and this man is caught in the middle of it all. for now taking free lance jobs as photographer and part-time work with moving companies, but -- >> that can only support me so long before my need to head home. >> reporter: he might be the next one moving back home. tom foreman, cnn, washington.

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tried to save him but was unsuccessful. the fire department says the sinkhole is expanding and could eventually take the house with it. is this nightmare, unfolding in florida, it's raising questions about could it happen again? nick valencia has been following the story closely for us. how does this even happen, nick? >> brianna, can you imagine being ay sleep in your bed and all of a sudden being sucked into the earth? sinkholes are a naturally occurring event usually. of course, other factors that play into it here. let's break it down for you. usually what happens is this heavy rain water sits right on top of the sand clays. if you look at florida's landscape. it's filled with porous-type limestone and you factor in the acidity of rain that allows it to percolate down into the bottom of the soil here and create these cave-like formations here down there. these sinkhole forms, formed by drought also and punctuated when the heavy rain comes in causing a sinkhole to form.

most scary thing of it all, brianna, the fact it's completely unpredictable. you don't know where they'll hit. folks in florida, thinking, is there a sinkhole in eye neighborhood? there could well be but so difficult to predict. >> there very well could be. this was a frequent accident but a state that isn't unfamiliar with this phenomena. >> no. not at all. in fact, we have this map here we pulled from the florida department of state. in fact, it's such a commonplace occurrence in the landscape of florida, i want too bri bring i camera. look at the little blue freckle dots. the errarea hit thursday into's friday. this according to the department of state is very susceptible to abruptly forming collapsed sinkholes that dominate this area. you can tell by the past occurrences. bring in the first graphic we hads and i'll show you a pick

chesh of one of the biggest sinkholes that happened in florida, winter park, florida, 1981, happened out of nowhere. completely unpredictable. you see the big car caught in the middle of it. this sinkhole in particular swallowed portions of businesses even a swimming pool and i can't emphasize it enough, they're completely unpredictable. in fact, jeff bush was asleep, about 11:00 when they heard the loud commotion and all of a sudden he was sucked into the middle of the earth. really tragic. >> certainly is. nick valencia, thanks for that. a students goes on a hunt for a locker room pick pocket. hiding in the locker, she waits. you won't believe who she caught on her cell phone. first, when traveling to other cities and countries, the best way to get a real taste of the place is through the local food. cnn ireport has teamed up with travel & leisure magazine, 100 places to eat like a local.

here's cnn's jim spellman with a seafood sample. >> my grandfather started here in 1886, and it was a, primarily, fresh seafood. >> when did the crab cake enter the picture? >> when i came down and started working here, and i decided to make a gourmet crab cake. >> reporter: well, would you make us some crab cakes? >> i sure will. all right. >> reporter: measurements? just kind of know how to do it? >> no. after you make this many crab cake, you just know and you go by feel. >> reporter: great. i'm sold. phenomenal. so substantial but light and you really taste -- >> the crab. >> reporter: the crab. like how good the crab is.

>> these are awesome. i have to get another one for sure. >> phenomenal. every expectation. it's amazing. >> reporter: thank you so much for showing us how you make your wonderful crab cakes. appreciate t. oh, you're welcome. the definitive list 100 places to eat like a local, revealed next week. from people helping to create a food-lover's map of the world. stay tuned to see who makes the list. ♪ ♪

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this is a pretty cool story. in california, a high school student staged her own sting operation after her classmates' backpacks kept getting robbed. curled up inside of a locker, armed with a cell phone camera, she could not believe what she witnessed. the person robbing those bags is a teacher. casey wian has the story. >> reporter: except for the cell phone surveillance video it's a story that could have been lifted straight out of a nancy drew mystery. this modern-day young detective is named justine betty, a sophomore at small-town linden high school in central california. >> i was, like, holding my breath so i wouldn't breathe heavy and she wouldn't hear me. i was shaking so bad, it was scary. >> reporter: call it the case of the locker room pickpocket. justine, her friend, marissa, and another girl were goofing around in p.e. hiding around in lockers, first for fun, then to see if they could catch a thief. >> i've had things stolen from my p.e. class multiple times.

>> we watched to see, like, what was going on in there after everybody left because we didn't know who was taking our things. >> reporter: they suspected a fellow student was taking money and valuables, but they were wrong. it was a teacher. >> the teacher took some jeans out of the gym bag and she took money out of there. >> reporter: but the girls needed proof so, two days later they set up makeshift cell phone surveillance cameras, one with justine in a locker, marissa's taped inside a second locker. and waited. >> and the camera was through a whole-hole in the locker. >> reporter: sure enough, along came the thief. this time the camera captured it all. a 30-year-old veteran teacher going through student clothing and backpacks. >> i just needed to get the evidence, and the video to show other people if they didn't believe it. >> reporter: when they took the video to linden high's principal. >> we were nervous we were going to get in trouble but we knew it was worth it because that shouldn't be happening at a school. >> reporter: the teacher has been placed on administrative

leave while an investigation is under way. >> it's not okay for a teacher that all the students trust and a teacher that was so nice and, like, made you feel comfortable to be stealing things like that. >> reporter: the san joaquin county sheriff's department tells cnn it did conduct an investigation into allegations of a teacher stealing money at linden high school. no arrests have been made. the case has been turned over to the district attorney. as for our young heroines, might detective work be in their future? >> i don't think so. i'm not sure. it's stressful. >> reporter: and, no, they didn't get in trouble. casey wian, cnn, los angeles. >> fascinating story. >> that's embarrassing. >> totally embarrassing for that teacher, isn't it? >> yes. what are you thinking? >> crazy. "cnn newsroom" starts at the top of the hour. fredricka whitfield will be there. we'll be watching. what's going to be happening? >> a lot. you know last weekend was the big daytona race and there was a crash. >> that's right. >> some of the debris went flying into the stands. just days after that, some of

the fans actually retained an attorney. we'll talk to our legal guys, always brilliant, to give us an idea as to whether hiring an attorney means you are going to sue and under what grounds would they be able to. >> how about some money-saving tips? there are apps, there's an app for that. there's an app for everything on trying to help you save money. how about a boot camp on getting out of debt and spending? and how about receiving alerts from your favorite stores when there's a sale? something to have on your phone. and then, hey, do you remember your best spring break destination? >> i only had one. i went to spain with a couple girlfriends. >> that's great. impressive. >> we didn't, like, party it up or anything. we were being cultural, you know. >> very impressive. kids these days are spring breaking on a whole new level. we have some tips from travel and aleisure who will take us t puerto rico for one. then your stomping grounds, d.c.

why spring breakers want to go to washington, d.c. >> really. >> yes. >> i would never have guessed. i love d.c. don't get me wrong. >> that's home for me. love it, too. yeah. some great ideas on spring breaking these days. >> maybe some ideas you haven't thought of. >> that's right. straight ahead, noon eastern hour. >> fredricka whitfield, we'll tune in. >> okay. >> now around the world catholics are awaiting their new pope. and american catholics are hoping he will address the changing face of the church in the u.s.

with the catholic church now looking for a new leader, american catholics have a lot of questions about their church's future. cnn's deborah feyerick is

covering that story for us. >> reporter: brianna, just imagine sitting inside the vatican right now listening to the conversations and deliberations about the legacy of benedict xvi and the future of the catholic church that will be defined by a new pope. a number of catholics, especially in the united states, are hoping that some changes will be made to reflect the reality of the times. >> amen. >> reporter: across the nation, the face of the u.s. catholic church is changing fast. >> we've reached the point where about one-third of all catholics in the united states are latinos, and among catholics who are under the age of 40 about half are latinos. >> reporter: but the face of the church hierarchy hasn't changed much at all. just over 10% of u.s. catholic bishops and 7% of priests are latino. >> i think maybe even a south american pope would help. you know, doesn't have to be a european or italian. >> reporter: demographic shifts

are not the only issue the vatican faces in the u.s. church. it's bad news for catholics when their numbers are growing, yet participation is falling. >> most catholics tell us, for instance, that it would be a good thing if the next pope allows priests to get married. most catholics tell us that it would be a good thing if the next pope is from the developing world. >> reporter: and as the number of priests decline, some question whether women should fill the void. a quarter of all americans are catholic, making them the fourth largest catholic population in the world. but that doesn't mean the church will change to address their concerns. >> when it comes to faith and morals, that the church's teachings are, while they need to be in dialogue with contemporary culture, they need to stand independent of that culture. >> reporter: meanwhile, some u.s. catholics are voting with their feet. catholic elementary schools lost a quarter of their student population in ten years. there are fewer baptisms, burials, even fewer catholic

weddings. >> there's a lot of discord in the american catholic church, i think. >> reporter: so as we await the white smoke signalling a new pope and hope for the american faithful, it remains to be seen whether the latest smoke signals will be influenced by the winds of change. all eyes on the vatican, faithful, the hopeful, and the optimistic. brianna? >> thanks, deb. "cnn newsroom" continues now with fredricka whitfield. hi, fred. >> hey. lots straight ahead. we'll begin with that incredible sinkhole. it's hard to imagine you're sleeping in your bed and suddenly the ground opens up. >> it's unfathomable. i couldn't believe it. >> we'll hear more on that. right outside of tampa, florida, where rescuers are trying to resume that search for the body of the man who was swallowed by that sinkhole. authorities say jeff bush was asleep when witnesses heard a deafening sound, then that sinning home simply opened up

right under his bedroom. his brother tried to save him, but it didn't work. >> i heard a loud crash, like a car coming through the house. and i heard my brother screaming, so i ran back there and tried going inside his room, but i turned the light on and all i seen was this big hole, real big hole. >> the fire department says the sinkhole is still expanding and could eventually take the whole house with it. $85 billion in widespread federal pend spending cuts in effect today. what happens now? we'll explain who will suffer the deepest and when bleeding might begin. that is straight ahead. and she's been on the stand for almost two weeks as prosecutors chip away at her stories. now joedi arias' attorney is preparing her defense. initially, she told police she had nothing to do with her ex-boyfriend's death. now she says it was self-defense. if arias is convicted, she could

get the death penalty. venezuelan president hugo chavez is said to be fighting for his life, this as the opposition leader takes to twitter accusing the government of lying about his condition. aside from photos, chavez has not been seen nor heard since october elections. meantime, his supporters held a mass in the chapel of a venezuelan military hospital where chazz is said to be receiving cancer treatments. after weeks of warnings, what ifs, and threats, americans now face $85 billion in federal funding cuts. president obama signed an order late last night for what he described as dumb and arbitrary cuts. cnn's dana bash explains what happens from here. >> reporter: the house speaker walked out of an unproductive white house meeting about spending cuts going into effect now and instead focused on the next looming crisis, the enz of this month, march 27th, when

government funding runs out. >> i'm hopeful we won't have to deal with the threat of a government shutdown while we're dealing with the sequester at the same time. the house will act next week, and i hope the senate will follow suit. >> how did it go? >> reporter: john boehner and house republicans plan to pass a bill next week to keep the government funded through september 30th, the end of the fiscal year. and along with that, deal with some of the pain from forced cuts going into effect now, just for the military, by giving the pentagon some leeway in its new budget. >> it is going to help update the categories which will reduce some of the damage. >> reporter: but that does not necessarily mean crisis averted. why? congressional democrats are skeptical about helping the military and not other americans hit by spending cuts, like children and head start programs. >> we need to have programs in there that meet compelling human need -- housing, education, health care. and we also need to look at transportation.

>> reporter: senator bar ba mikulski, who heads the committee in charge of spending, at work while most of her senate colleagues are home for the weekend, expressed frustration that congress is gone. >> i'm here. i'm ready to go. i waited for the photo-op back at the white house to come here to give me instructions. >> reporter: speaking of congress skipping town, the president took note of the empty capitol while trying to put real-life faces on forced spending cuts. >> now that congress has left, somebody's going to be vacuuming and cleaning those floors and throwing out the garbage. they're going to have less pay. the janitors, the security guards. they just got a pay cut. and they got to figure out how to manage that. >> reporter: but we checked on that, and it turns out the president was not exactly right. the senate sergeant at arms told cnn neither capitol police nor janitors will see salaries slashed, only limited overtime. the only announced effect so far at the capitol is some entrances will close, a small inconvenience to lawmakers and

their aides. >> and dana bash with us now live. looking ahead, you made clear the next showdown is going to be about keeping the government running. but what are the chances to-that government shutdown? that's certainly something nobody wants at the end of the month. >> it is something nobody wants, and that was one of the most interesting things i think that did come out of yesterday's meeting, maybe the only productive thing that came out of yesterday's meeting, fredricka, which is we heard similar statements from the president and from the house speaker saying that they simply do not want a government shutdown. so they're determined to figure out a way to make that work, but as you just heard from the piece, there definitely are some details they have to work out to make that happen. we'll see as soon as next week the house move a piece of legislation to keep the government running. the question is can they bridge the differences that they have with senate democrats. but sours that i talked to in senate democratic leadership late yesterday said that the signal they got from the

president was figure it out, fix it, we don't even want to go there on this government shutdown. >> dana bash, thanks so much. we'll chat with you again in a few minutes. there are a lot of myths, rumors about these spending cuts, and a lot of viewers are actually writing in with their questions. our tom foreman is in washington with some answers or at least you're entertaining a lot of the questions. what are people asking you, tom? >> yeah, fred. a lot of terrific questions. i've been impressed with the questions people is have asked. sun devil sal asks, isn't it true that the sequester forces a cut in the rate of growth? government is still spending more than last year. that's 90% correct. the actionings we're talking about right now are an actual cut to the budgets of the affected agencies, or at least most of them. i haven't gone through every single line so i don't know what they requested this year from last year. but federal spending in all categories will be less this year. however, for the next nine years of this deal, the sequester will only slow the rate of growth.

so if, for example, a department expects a 6% increase they may only get a 3% increase, but it will still be an increase. it's an important to many of our viewers out there and one we should make. a cut in washington is not always the same as you think a cut would be. do these spending cults include the president and congress and their security? yes and no. yes, both the capitol police and secret service budgets are being cut 5%, but there will that affect security for congress and the president? no, probably not. you saw dana's report talking about what's happening with the police at the capitol. the secret service helps with counterfeiting and fraud cases that take care of visiting dignitaries' embassies, in other words, many other places they, too, can and likely will absorb the cuts before there's any reduction in the president's protection. mike, i got to tell you, your handle sounds like a tax form, asks, what about mail delivery? will there be saturday delivery?

the postal service has said it needs to cut saturday delivery to save money. some congressional groups don't want that to happen and are fighting back. but this has nothing to do with the sequester. i can understand why you might think it does, but it doesn't. the postal service does not use taxpayer money. it's funded by its own revenues, which have been in trouble for a long time because of a rise in e-mail. and a question we keep hearing over and over again, why are not congressional salaries being cut? weirdly enough, congressional salaries can't be cut because of a protection that was put in a long time ago for us as taxpayers. fred, you may know about this, but this is fascinating to me. the 27th amendment says a change in congressional salaries can only be enacted for the next congress. for example, fred, if you and i were in congress, we can't give a raise to ousts. we can give it to the next congress. that was put there because they didn't want congress members giving themselves big raises, rewarding themselves financially. >> yeah. they don't want the financial incentive, right, to serve the

people. >> yeah. and also, though, it makes it m possible for them to take cults right now even though some of them have said they voluntarily want to. >> fascinating stuff. there are still lots of questions, tom, and some of our folks here will have some answer, ali velshi among them. dana bash will be back. and jim acosta will join us. we'll have a panel discussion on the impact and politics of these forced spending cuts. accused killer jodi arias broke down in tears on the stand. but is it the prosecutor's bethaifr may change this trial? trial? the american dream is of a better future,

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experience life well lit. ask which transitions adaptive lens is best for you. the forced spending cuts are under way, but not everyone will be impacted immediately. if you live near military installations or if your family relies on federally funded child care, you will feel it in the next seven months or so. >> we will get through this. this is not going to be an apocalypse, as some people have said. it's just dumb. and it's going to hurt. it's going to hurt individual people, and it's going to hurt the economy overall. >> the president got his tax hikes on january 1st. this discussion about revenue in my view is over. it's about taking on the spending problem here in washington. >> all right.

joining us from washington, our chief business correspondent ali velshi, dana bash, who covers congress, and jim acosta joining us from the white house. our national political correspondent. good to see all of you. ali, help us unction this. $85 billion in cuts. how might it be impacted in the economy, hurt or help? >> it's probably not going to hurt as much as some people including the president had been saying it was going to hurt. it's likely not to be helpful at all. it's not that you can't cut waste out of the government or excess fat out of the government. it's the structure of these cuts. when the president said it's dumb, it was that across the board. the example i've been giving is that if you have -- your expenses are too high and you want to cut them by 10%, you can't cut 10% off your mortgage and 10% off your groceries and heating bill. you cut a lot of stuff out of your entertainment bill or the coffee you get at starbucks. but you have to still pay your rent or your mortgage. >> this is across the board.

>> this is across the board. >> 13% some agencies. but most agencies will experience 9%. >> right. that's exactry li right. it's the lack of precision in the way they're applied. the net effect of applying them in this way means the end goal is reducing the debt. that is not achieved here. in order to do that, you would have to reform both the tax code and entitlement spending on medicare, medicaid, and social security, stuff that nobody is touching in the sequester, these forced budget cuts don't do. >> dana, the white house and congressional republicans in particular are agreeing that there has to be less spending, but they differ on the whole issue of tax increases. is that what in large part really led to this latest stalemate? >> for the most part, yes. it was the philosophical difference between the two parties on the issue of taxes, pretty much on the surface, and that is the white house and democrats, they offered a

proposal to replace these cuts with a plan that is half spending cuts and half tax increases that they would do that by closing some tax loopho loopholes. the republicans said, no we're done talking about tax increases because many of them fell burned or frustrated because of the deal that they struck at the end of 2012 to deal with the last crisis, the fiscal cliff, because they agreed to many more tax increases than they wanted to. and just to sort of answer that question in the political vein, which, let's face it, that's what it's all about. i was looking down at my blackberry to find an e-mail i saw this morning that came from one of the most conservative and powerful groups, americans for prosperity, sending an e-mail to the house speaker thanking him for standing his ground on spending cuts. that is a very different kind of message that the speaker has been getting from his fiscally conservative right flank because they have really been criticizing him. this is a very different thing. it might explain xooktly why we

are where we are. >> that's something to celebrate. that isn't the kind of message the american people want to hear. people have expressed this frustration over the this congress, republicans in particular for what many are describing as being obstructionist. this falls into that same category in the view of so many who have been disgruntled and upset about the process. >> well, some. that is true for many americans. but for the people in the grassroots, conservative grassroots, who have been frustrated not because of the lack of comity, not because people aren't getting things done in washington, but they've been frustrated because they elected a republican house and they haven't stood their ground on spending cults. it may be a small percentage if you look at the overall electorate, but they are a very loud percentage and those are the people who vote in republican primaries and that's why they ma ter so much. >> we'll talk about the issue of standing their ground. i can't wait to ask you, jim acosta, if the white house is poising itself for the next four years that they just might not

be able to get anything done. there may not be any kind of compromise if there's that sentiment of standing the ground. we're going to continue this political discussion in a moment. who wins, who loses, and could it cost some people in washington their jobs? answers straight ahead. how do you keep an older car running like new? you ask a ford customer. when they tell you that you need your oil changed you got to bring it in. if your tires need to be rotated, you have to get that done as well. jackie, tell me why somebody should bring they're car here to the ford dealership for service instead of any one of those other places out there. they are going to take care of my car because this is where it came from. price is right no problem, they make you feel like you're a family. get a synthetic blend oil change, tire rotation and much more, $29.95 after $10.00 rebate. if you take care of your car your car will take care of you.

you're on your way out, on your way home? >> yes, ma'am. >> so you're not going to be here in town when these cuts kick in. >> they call me back, i'll be back. >> but what do you think about the idea that congress and you all won't be here when these cuts kick in? >> got to go to the airport. >> got to go to the airport? okay. >> on the go and not too keen to explain why these congressmen were leaving washington with those forced spending cuts set to hit every man just about. dana bash back with us along with chief business correspondent ali velshi and jim acosta, national political correspondent at the white house. dana, back to you first.

they didn't want to talk to you. they were certainly on the go. some are maybe facing some political fallout at home or is it the feeling that they won't be subjected to that? >> you know, each member is going to have an individual set of repercussions. some of the members who weren't literally racing to get to the airport, it's a dangerous place to be in between a congressman and his flight home, but some members did explain it. and they said that they -- from the perspective of house members, republicans, they said that they had their plan and they were waiting for the senate to act. some democrats said that they were frustrated beyond belief that house republicans who run the house said we're just going to leave. but, look, there is i think by and large frustration in understanding that thf not the way to duttcut. if they're going to cut, as ali pointed out, this is not the way to cut. you have to look at entitlements, medicare, and social security, which were intentionally taken out of this.

people do get that. >> jim, is the white house preparing itself for more of this lack of compromise, so to speak, that even though there was a last-minute meeting on friday, you know, nothing happened and the ball just simply wasn't moved. is it preparing for just more of this over the next four years? >> you know, i think they're ready for that. i think they know that that is going to be the case when it comes to these fiscal matters. but i will tell you, fredricka, the white house is pointing reporter to what the president said yesterday, that he's going to be moving on his other priorities, and so gun control, immigration reform. we're going to be hearing the president talking about those two issues over the next couple of weeks. so he may be shifting away from what he calls these manufactured crises that washington has been in the middle of. but as to what dana and ali were just talking about a few moments ago with respect to just, you know, trying to cut this federal deficit and how this may not be the best way to go about it, if

you go through what this letter says to the congress last night from the office of management and budget, there are some cults in there that i think a lot of people out there might deem stupid. there are $10 million in cuts to the federal health program to 9/11 first responders. there are some of these items, if you go through this report, that a lot of people haven't really focused in on. and as the days and the weeks and months develop, people are going to be looking at this and saying oh my goodness, we didn't know that was in there. fred rhee kashgs i think all this goes back to the failure by the president and the house speaker to reach that grand bargain back in 2011, you know, when they had entitlement money on the table, they had spending cults and tax reform on the table. it is almost as if as they've gone through these individual manufactured crises, as people like to say here in washington, each side has been sort of extracting some kind of part of what was a grand bargain out of

that process. the president got tax increases as part of the fiscal cliff. now house republicans are getting these very deep spending cuts as part of what people call the sequester. but yet as dana just mentioned a few moments ago, the entitlements aren't being touched, so that's why there's a loft of frustration in washington right now, that they may be attacking the deficit but maybe not in the best way. >> there is a lot of frustration across the board. people at home are wondering, you know, is it going to impact them or will it only impact some people who rely on, you know, federally funded programs. >> excellent question. >> the child care, et cetera. if we're talking especially over a six, seven, eight-month period. >> i've been having a twitter argument with one particular person all morning who said none of this touches me. you don't live in a state or municipality that gets payments from the government, you don't travel, you must grow your own food. it touches everybody. it's going to touch some people

disproportionately more. go back to 2008, and i'm not suggesting this is going to crash the economy, i don't think it is, but when there are things that affect sxwroefrl growth in the economy in some fashion it gets to you. you may have never been laid off because of the financial crisis, but in 2008, you may not have known anybody who got laid off. now i think everybody in america knows a lot of people who were laid off, not shopping at the local stores, not eating out at restaurants. it does all of that. we need to think about it in terms of a personal siloed way and in terms of larger economic impact. >> ali, dana, jim, thanks to all of you. ali, we'll see you at 1:00 eastern time. ali velshi and christine romans will have a special live edition of "your money" as they break down the impact of these forced spending cuts. at 2:00 eastern we'll hear from steve bell, former staff director for the senate budget committee. he'll give us an insider's perspective on the cuts. he says it wasn't good years ago

and still not good to see forced spending cuts. 2:00 here in the "cnn newsroom." as her lawyers prepare to take the stand, our legal guys weigh in on jodi arias' case of self-defense. first, a perfect time to take a tropical vacation perhaps. holly furfur shows us a place that's pretty easy for most americans to visit. >> puerto rico is an easy tropical vacation. >> you don't need any passport documentation to travel there, and of course once you're on the dwrounld you don't need to exchange any money or learn a new language. but it's that quintessential caribbean experience. >> puerto rico is located between the dominican republic and the british virgin islands. u.s. flights alive in san juan, also the top cruise ship destination in the caribbean. >> san juan is home to old san juan, a haven for people looking for nature trails and coral

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welcome back to the "newsroom." i'm fredricka whitfield. if you're just tuning in, thanks for joining us this afternoon. here's what's trending online. ♪ harlem shake doesn't it seem like every day someone's got a new version? this has a hit in the air. everyone on board, 30,000 feet up. the faa, however,en the like this video of a group of college

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the housing market is slowly healing. we all know buyers have been taking advantage of low prices and low rates. but things are starting to look even better for sellers as well. as christine romans shows us in this "smart is the new rich" report it pays to spend a little now to make more later. >> this home has 30 seconds to make a first impression. curb appeal can make ore break your deal. clean up the beds, cut back anything that should be cut back. >> reporter: torre top is a home stager. she's prepping this house for sale outside and in. >> home staging gets your home sold faster and usually for more money. >> reporter: a study claims 73%

faster. the idea, you've got to spend money to make money. usually 1% to 3% of the asking price. homeowner marissa torres is in. >> i'm hoping that when we're ready to sell that this house will get top dollar and people are going to come in and have the "wow" factor. >> reporter: achieving that "wow" factor will cost her $7,000 if she acts on all of torre's suggestions. she has to declutter and repaint the kitchen. >> so i'm really trying to either pull out the gray or a lighter gray so that the cab knelts stand out. you want to keep a minimum of three large appliances on your countertops. another great tip is remove everything off your refrigerator. >> reporter: the living room furniture should be downsized and rearranged. >> this is a spacious living room exempt it's not looking like that right now because of those large pieces of furniture. the rule of thumb is to remove more than keep it in here. >> reporter: same in the bedroom. >> if you have a master bedroom

that has a sleigh backing on it, it's really eating up 6 to 12 inches of your square footage in your home. >> reporter: new hardwood floors go in here, which will be staged as a second bedroom. but the biggest expense is redoing this master bath. >> so the tile they had in this room was old. and it was starting to crack. the bathtub actually had some cracks in it. >> reporter: all in, a $7,000 gamble her realtor says will pay off. >> i would say she could probably get between another $15,000 to $20,000 return on her investment. >> think about all the money you're going to be making. >> it's a bet this homeowner is going to take. christine romans, cnn, new york. a brutal cross-examination of suspected killer joeldi arias, but were the tears genuine or was it part of an act? our legal guys weigh in. everyone's retirement dream is different;

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all right. it's a case that's been riveting. jodi arias has been on the witness stand in her murder trial for almost a month. she is accused of stabbing, slashing, and shooting her ex-boyfriend travis alexander. but it was during her fifth day of tough cross-examination that she actually broke down crying.

it happened when prosecutor juan martinez went on the attack, demanding that she answer specific questions about how she killed alexander and that she look at pictures from the crime scene. very gruesome pictures. >> ma'am, were you crying when you were shooting him? >> i don't remember. >> were you crying when you were stabbing him? >> i don't remember. >> how about when you cut his throat? were you crying then? >> i don't know. >> so take a look, then. and you're the one that did this. right? >> yes. >> and you're the same individual that lied about all this. right? >> yes. >> so then take a look at it. according to your version of events, you would acknowledge that that stabbing was after the shooting, according to you. right?

>> i don't -- yes. i don't remember. >> i'm not asking if you remember, ma'am. i'm asking if you acknowledge that it would be you that did it. correct? >> yes. >> okay. let's bring in our legal guys here. avery friedman, civil rights attorney and law professor from cleveland, good to see you. >> hi, fredricka. >> and richard herman, new york criminal law defense attorney joining us from washington. always on the go, travel to so many cities. a big warning out there that we will be showing some pictures that were shown during testimony, very graphic, of the crime scene, of the death of mr. alexander. so on the stand, arias has no qualms about admitting that she did kill alexander. no one's disputing that. but she says it was self-defense, and we heard her say, just in that clip, so many times, that she doesn't

remember. so, avery, is this the prosecution able to establish there was premeditation or is she protecting herself by being able to say i didn't remember, and so, you know, might her attorneys be thinking about pleading insanity somewhere down the line, or is it too late for that? >> well, i'm sure if it were available, fredricka, they would have used it already. this has been an utter disaster. if you're going to go on national television like ""inside edition"" and "48 hours," tell the whole story. i don't know what kind of legal counsel she had at that time, but it's all coming out and came out this week with juan martinez, the prosecutor. the differences in the stories are not merely inconsistent. they are colossal. they are cavernous. and i think the jury is now learning about the cold-blooded nature of this defendant. i mean, even the details such as stabbing travis alexander in the back nine times. so i think -- >> and not remembering that.

>> and not remembering it. i just don't think the jury is buying it. again, you know, the defense will be coming back this week. but, man, oh, man, there is premeditation evidence all over the place. >> richard, you agree? is this disastrous for the defense? >> well, i thought the week was about the worst cross-examination i've ever seen or read in over 30 years of litigation except for the last day, where the prosecutor scored heavily, and now the jury has three days to think about it and judge her credibility and whether or not her story meshes. fred, we know people lie prior to going to trial. they try to cover themselves and protect themselves. here she is at trial. she's trying to tell the jury now i'm coming clean. the prosecutor built a history of lies from her. why did she lie to the police, to detectives, she lied to protect herself. in his summation, he's going to say she lied to all those people and she lied to you during the trial. but listen, next week the

defense expert shrinks will come in and the testify that the type of episode and the type of brutality, brutality that she endured from travis and the physical and mental abuse she sustained from him led to this episode and amnesia is part of it and that's why she doesn't remember. look, the jury -- >> and the self-defense. >> yeah. self-defense. >> she's denied the abuse. >> no, she's not denied the abuse. she's pathetic on the stand. you can see the abuse. but the judge will also instruct the jury you do not have to buy what the expert says. >> that's right. >> i think that's where it's going to come down. >> it is a fascinating case and certainly a lot of people are just simply riveted by it. another case, this just a week after we all watched it on television, this was a nascar race and a number of cars crashed, careens into the fence

there, some of the cars going into the stands. spectators got hit with debris from pieces of engines and tires. three days after the race, some days have retained an attorney. on what grounds if they were to pursue it -- imagine they're getting attorneys because they're thinking about lawsuits, but who would they be seeing? the speedway? the driver? or perhaps the manufacturers of that fence? >> they are going to sue daytona, the hallowed daytona speedway. that's who they're going to sue. and they're going to say that any small print in their ticket is not a binding contract. they're going to say that daytona knew that there was a dangerous propensity for cars to injure patrons, hence they put up a fence. the question is going to be whether that fence was put up properly, whether that fence was defective. if that fence was put up properly and cleanly, daytona, i think, is going to escape liability. >> really. you talk about the disclaimer on the tickets. on the back of the tickets for

daytona race, perhaps some other nascar races, it will say, and in this case it said the holder of this ticket expressly assumes all risk incident to the event, whether a occurring prior to, during, or swent to the actual event. any substance sid yairs are released from all claims arising from the event, including claims of negligence. so why even bother pursuing a lawsuit if it's written there on your ticket? >> well, courts will find that kind of language on that kind of ticket is unenforceable. the issue is whether or not there is a defect in the manufacture of what's called the catch fence in this case. remember, there were about 30 people injured. 14 went to the hospital. two or three were seriously injured. and the question is, if there is an inherent danger in the design of that catch fence, indeed, daytona and the rest of the people involved in this may be on the line. i think it's going to be very

difficult to overcome assumption of the risk, which gets them scot-free in this thing. but i do think that that's one issue that if suit has been filed -- by the way, it has not. if it is, that's where the potential liability is in this case. >> wow. this is fascinating. all right. we'll see. this is really just the beginning of what could unravel into fascinating suit or a number of suits. all right. avery, richard, we'll see you again in a few moments. a u.s. supreme court justice making a comment. so surprising that people who heard it actually gasped out loud. ♪ (train horn) vo: wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life.

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if the voting rights act is still necessary to protect rights against discrimination, that's the issue the u.s. supreme court just took up. the case is considered one of the most important the justices

will tackle this term. and during the debate wednesday, the conservative judges seemed to lean towards striking down a key part of the law while the liberal judges defended it. the legal guys are back, avery friedman in cleveland, richard herman in washington. gentlemen, people heard a loud gasp, you know, during the hearing on wednesday when justice antonin scalia said reauthorization of the act would be the, quote, perpetuation of racial entitlement. justice sonia sotomayor challenged him, asking, quote, do you think racial discrimination has ended? is that what's really at issue here, avery? before even moving forward on this, is it an issue of whether it's outdated and whether racial discrimination no longer exists? >> well, it's silly, frankly, to argue that racial discrimination doesn't exist. the law that's involved here was a law enacted as a result of the 13th amendment, the abolition of slavery. this is anti-slavery

legislation. because it still exists on some level, it may not be like it was before, there's a reason to have preclearance by the justice department in the nine southern states. that's the united states' argument. they're saying there are still badges of slavery. shelby, alabama, arks, fredricka, that this is a badge of shame, we should be free, things have changed in the south. and at the end of the day, while a lot of commentators are talking about 5-4 invalidating it, if it happens, congress is going to go back and read past legislation, but i'm not sure that we're going to see an invalidation. keep your eye on chief justice robinson ertz. >> richard, we're talking about the impact of these nine state where is there would have to be some sort of special permission to the federal government before making nies kinds of changes? >> yeah. it's not only these nine states, fred. it's countless counties all over the country, for instance, in new york, the bronx county is also bound by this. but it's just absolutely

incredible that a supreme court judge would make the kind of comment that scalia made, that it's a giveaway to blacks and latinos. what does that mean? that sounds racist to me. but i'm not as brilliant as justice scalia, but it sounds like racism to me. when justice roberts chimes in and says, you know, the black-to-white ratio is the worst voting ratio, is the worst in massachusetts and the best in mississippi, they seem to be drinking the same koolaid here. i don't know. no semblance of reality from this supreme court. it's the province of congress to address this. i don't think the supreme court should get involved. and when states like texas and some other states move voting booths some 800 miles away from -- >> yeah. that's the point. >> -- voting areas to preclude that minority vote and president obama seems to win the election by a huge minority advantage, come on. it's pretty transparent. >> congress will repass it if it

is invalidated anyhow. not an issue. >> sorry. go ahead. >> well, that -- the point is that in the worst scenario, it's invalidated, congress is going to revisit, come up with a new formula for preclearance. so it may be a tempest in a teapot. we'll see. >> i'm wondering how unusual it is to hear joan justice sotomayor's comment where is she really was challenging justice scalia on that point, on his perception of society versus the kind of legal arguments that you hear being challenged between justices. >> well, look, she's a minority, and you go, girl. she took it personal and she let it rip. due queue does to her. >> it's more than that. it's more than that. i think it's philosophically a very different view of what the 13th amendment is and what the voting rights act is. and i think you just see this

difference in what they believe the constitution provides for here. that's what there was. may have been personal, but i think philosophically these two justices are miles apart. >> it's partisan politics. partisan politics is what's going on. >> it's not politics on the supreme court. >> yeah, it is. >> i don't buy it. >> all right, richard avery, thanks so much. we know there's no politics between you guys. >> never. >> sometimes you agree and sometimes not. all right, gentlemen. always good to see you. thanks so much. the legal guys are here every saturday, this time, our noon eastern hour, taking on the most intriguing legal cases of the week, sometimes of the day. thehere they come. the vat kahn will soon be flooded with cardinals. [ male announcer ] now you can swipe... scroll... tap... pinch... and zoom... in your car.

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